Digital Citizenship

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I found a great article/blog that gives practical advice for teaching in a ubiquitous laptop setting.  This article was of particular interest to me because next year I am transitioning to a new position in a 1-to-1 computer environment.  Mary Beth Hurtz gives a great analogy to the internet and how it is today's playground. She goes on to say that we can teach kids how to climb and play safely and teach them how to avoid and deal with bullies on the playground.  Now we need to prepare them the same way using computers and the internet. In her school, students are not given computer until the beginning of October which allows her to really instruct her students to be safe online.  She reads a book to them called lol...OMG! Which seems like a great book to teach students about the need for safety online. She also provides students with relevant current events and talks to them about the importance of being a good digital citizen.  I found this article to be great and one that I will use next year when establishing a strong understanding of what a digital citizen means.

The district that I work in offers kids a boot camp where they get introduced to the machine and also go over the basics of internet safety.  I believe that reading lol...OMG, in addition to the boot camp, will prepare my students to be thoughtful when using the internet.  If anyone else has any suggestions/advice, please leave a note in the comments sections.  I'm looking forward to hearing from you and your suggestions.